Articulated conveyor



June 2f i964- c, D; ANDERSON 3,135,314

RTIGULATEIDLGONMEXOR Filed Aug.. i962 Il ill wil w WMM 57 i if 57 ATTORNEY 3,135,374 ARTICULATED CONVEYOR Carl D. Anderson, IKO. Box 437, Oak Hill, W. Va. Filed Aug. 21, 1962, Ser. No. 218,245 Claims. (Cl. 198109) This invention is a mobile conveyor and tram of general utility but designed particularly for use in underground mining operations where space is limited and the passages or tunnels sometimes narrow and winding in character.

One object of the invention is to provide a mobile conveyor which can readily be moved from a loading point to a remotely located unloading point, within or outside of a mine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ap paratus of the character which is composed of a number of wheeled units connected in end to end relation in a manner to provide for articulation between the connected units about both vertical and horizontal axes, thereby to permit movement of the apparatus readily through narrow winding mine passages and over uneven nonlevel floor surfaces.

A further object of the invention is to provide in an apparatus as described a loading unit and a discharge unit, each provided with means for connection to a tractor by which the conveyor may be moved from place to place from either end. Y

A still further object is to provide means by which any desired number of standard car units may be connected in end to end relation between the loading and unloading units, thereby to provide a conveyor and/.or tram of `a desired length.

Another object of the invention is to provide in an apparatus as described, a conveyor member having an upper run traversing all of the units and operating to move material loaded into the apparatus at one end thereof, to the opposite end thereof, whereby to load the entire train of vconnected units from a single loading point disposed adjacent to one end of the apparatus, and thus function to United States Patent() 7 3,135,374 Patented June 2, 1964 the bottom, a trough-like structure open at opposite ends. At the forward end of the unit 1, that is the right hand end as viewed in FIG. l, there is provided a draft device 7 in the form of a loop, pivotally connected at its ends 8 to theunit 1 and having a ball hitch member 9 for connection to tractors, shown diagrammatically at 10. The draft device 7 and ball hitch 9 are of conventional construction and therefore the details thereof, have been omitted.

The bottom 4 may be constructed in any desired manner. Conveniently it may be a piece of sheet metal, such as steel, and at the left hand end thereof as viewed in FIG. 1, it is formed with one part of a swivel joint indicated at 11 in FIG. 1. The details of this joint are shown more clearly in FIGS. 6 and 7, from which it will be seen that an arcuate undercut shoulder 12 is formed in the upper surface of the bottom 4, said arcuate shoulder being concentric to the axis 13 of the swivel joint 11. The lower level 14 of the bottom plate 4 tapers inwardly toward the center line of the unit and terminates in an eye portion 15 (see FIGS. 6 and 7), said eye portion 15 having a tubular pin or connector 16 secured therein, said pin at the top 16a, terminating substantially at or slightly below the level of the top surface of the bottom plate 4, and extending at the lower end 16b to a point well below the bottom of plate 4, thus to accommodate cooperating parts of the swivel joint, to be later described. The tubular pin 16 is interiorly threaded at 17 and exteriorly threaded at 13.

The cooperating parts of the swivel joint 11 include a plate member 4a having a beveled edge portion, arcuately contoured to fit within and beneath correspondingly formed arcuate portion 12 previously described.

The several swivel joints provided in the apparatus are all substantially identical except for reversal of certain parts in joints when used at opposite ends of a unit.

Therefore, only one such joint, that shown in FIG. 3, will receivev a full load of material from a continuously operating mining machine, without changing the position of the apparatus with respect to the mining machine. Y Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following specification when read in the light of the accompanying drawings wherein I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein FIG. l is a top plan view ofthe invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a portion of apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a detail sectional View of a vertical pivot connection,

FIG. 4 is a sectional View taken on line 4 4 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a top plan view (enlarged) of a standard car unit,

,'FIG. 6 is a fragmental detail of an end portion of a ,turntable section of a standard car unit,

FIG. 7 is a sectional View on line 7-7 of FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a top plan View of a fragment of the swivel roller chain conveyor, and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on line 9-9 of a portion of the conveyor guide channels, showing in the region of a swivel joint.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings, I have shown in FIG. 1 an embodiment of the invention in its simplest form. It comprises a load unit 1, a discharge unit 2, and an intermediate standard car or unit 5. These three units, as will appear, are connected for relative articulation about vertical and about horizontal axes.

The load unit includes a bottom 4 and upstanding side walls S connected thereto, said walls thus forming, with be described in detail. Thus in FIG. 3, the bottom plate 19 is provided with an undercut arcuate shoulder 20 similar to that shown at 12 in FIG. 7, and carries a tubular pin 21 similar in all respects to pin 16 of FIG. 7. The top plate 19a of the joint in FIG. 3 is the bottom part 19a of the discharge unit 2 of FIG. l. The plate 19a has an arcuate beveled edge 22 tted within and seated beneath the shoulder 20 and is provided with an aperture i23 which in the assembled position of the pants as shown, is in alignment with and tits about the upper end 24 of the pin 21. The plate 19a has secured to the bottom face thereof, after assembly as shown, an apertured bearing bracket 25, which iits around the lower end 24a of the pin 21. An annular collar 26 is then threaded onto the lower end of the pin 21, while a cap screw or plug 27 is screwed into the top end of said pin. The cap screw 27 is provided with an extended radially beveled edge portion to engage a similarly shaped edge provided for aperture 23. The joint is thus securely held together against axial separation. Bearing members 28 and 29 may be included in said joint if desired.

The opposite end 30 of bottom plate 4a of unit 1 is provided with one part of a hinge joint in the form of spaced pintle sleeves 31. The sleeves 31 are generally cylindrical and aligned on a horizontal axis coincident with an axle member 32 which axle passes through said sleeves 31 and cooperatively similar sleeves 33 on an adjoining unit 3, as will be described.

Intermediate the ends of unit 1 as thus described is an axle member 34, secured to the bottom surface of plate 4 in any convenient manner. The axle 34 is a dead axle so it may be iixedly secured to plate 4 either by welding or by straps as shown in FIG. 7.

The side walls 5 of the unit 1 are dared outwardly as at 3S into generally arcuate sections substantially concentric with the swivel axis i3, and dimensioned radially to correspond to the enlarged radial dimension of the plate 4a inthe region thereof surrounding the swivel joint 11 (see FIG. l). Furthermore, the side plates 5a of unit l, are arcuately flared as shown in the region of the swivel joint lll and slidingly interlit there, with the flared sections 35 of the wall members 5. Thus the bottom sections 4 and 4a of the unit l may freely pivot relative to one another about the axis 13.

The discharge unit 2 at the opposite end of the string of connected units is similar in many respects to the unit 1. Thus it has the bottom plate 19-ia, side walls 36, end wall 37, and a pivotally connected tractor hitch 38 shown connected to a tractor lil, shown diagrammatically. The two bottom sections @-1951 are swivelled and connected as described, and shown particularly in FIG. 3, and the plate 19a is formed with a hinge connection 39 similar in all respects to the hinge 35B of unit 1. In addition, however, the unloading unit includes a hopper formation 40 adjacent its end wall 3'?, said hopper 4@ being provided with a gate controlled discharge opening 41 the details of which are conventional and therefore not shown in detail. Also the discharge unit includes means M for driving a conveyor C all of which will be fully described later herein.

The loading uniti and the unloading unit 2, are hingedly connected to opposite ends of a standard car unit 3, by hinge formations 30 and 39 previously described, and as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The standard car unit comprises a central section 42 and terminal portions 43 and 44 as shown more clearly in FIG. 5. The central section includes a bottom plate 45, having at opposite ends thereof a swivel formation 4d corresponding in all respects to that shown in FIG. 6, and a swivel formation 47 which except for being reversed as shown, is a duplicate of swivel section 46. Each swivel section 46 and 47 has associated therewith a cooperating swivel section 48 and 49 respectively, corresponding in all respects to the arrangement shown in FIG. 3, except that the parts 46 and 48, of FIG. 5, are reversed in relation to the parts .t9- 1% as shown in FIG. 3. The plate member 45 has secured to the bottom surface thereof an axle t? which is a dead axle and therefore may be fixedly secured to said plate in any desired manner (see axle 34 of FIG. 7). The swivel sections 48 and 49 of the terminal portions 43 and 44 are provided with hinge formations 51 and 52 designed to cooperate with similar hinge sections 30 and 39. As previously described the hinge formations 30 and 52 are designed to receive the axle hinge pin 32, and the hinge formations 39 and Si receive a similar axle hinge pin 53.

The central section 42 of the standard car unit 3 is provided with side wall members 54, each of which at opposite ends is extended outwardly in arcuate formation concentric with the respective swivel axes 43a and 44a, as shown, and the sections 4S and 49 of the respective swivel portions also carry side Wall plates 55 and Se, at opposite sides, which are correspondingly and arcuately flared as shown, and slidingly engage with the .dared wall sections of the wall $4. Thus the end sections 43 and 44 may freely swivel about the axes 43a and 44a as described.

The conveyor C previously referred to comprises an endless swivel roller chain of known and conventional construction. A section of such chain is shown in FIG. 8 as comprising cross pins or pivot members 5'7 pivotally connecting the chain links or bars 53. At selected points throughout the length of the chain adjacent bars are connected by pivot pins 59 the axes of which are disposed generally perpendicular to axes of the link bars 57. The pivots 59 occur at spaced intervals of about 12 inches apart. The chain C also carries flights or bars o@ at similarly spaced intervals, there being one flight bar d@ between each 2 pivots 59 so that the bars and pivots alternate at about 6-inch intervals.

The conveyor C is trained about sprocket rollers at opposite ends of the connected train of units. One such roller is shown at 6i on the discharge unit 2, and one is shown at d2 on the loading unit 1. The rollers may be mounted on the respective units in any convenient manner such as by bracket 63, see FIG. 2.

The conveyor chain C is driven by the motor M mounted on a supporting side plate 64 carried by the unit 2 (see FIG. l), said motor driving through a suitable reduction gear unit 64a. The upper run 65 of the conveyor is adapted to be supported on the top surfaces of the several bottom plates 4, 4a, 49, 4S, 4S, 19a and 119 of the several units and to slide thereover, while the lower run 66 of the conveyor C is guided in channel members 67 secured to said bottom plates as shown in FlG. 4. The side plates and the channel guides may be supported and braced against lateral displacement by struts 68 if desired.

The channel members 67 are broken away or spaced at the hinge joints 3@ and 39 as shown in FIG. 2 to permit free hinge movement of the connected units and the overlapping portions 7i? of they respective side plates in this arrangement are cut back on an angle as shown at 7l on either side of these joints to avoid interference at these points.

The axles of the several units are each supplied with rubber tired wheels 72 in order that the conveyor may be readily moved from place to place.

The guide members 57 for the under run of the conveyor are cut away and outwardly flared at points adjacent the swivel connections, as shown in FIG. 9, whereby to prevent interference between the guide channels when the units connected through said swivel connections, relatively move about vertical pivots.

lt will be appreciated that the portions of the tram which are articulated for pivotal movement about vertical axes function normally in a sense, as turntables, and associated with each of these vertical pivot points are stop members 73 disposed onopposite sides of the center line of the tram. The stop members 73 are secured to and depend from the top member of each of the turntable devices and engage with the tapered sides of the lower member of each such device to limit the swivel movement thereof to about 30 in either direction. This restricted turning movement assists the tram unit to track or follow more accurately the path of movement of the tractor.

In operation, the tractor such as l0 is attached to one end of the train of connected units through the draw bars 9 or 38, and the conveyor drawn into a mine to a loading position. The conveyor may be spotted so that the loading unit will receive the discharge from a continuously operating mining machine. The motor M is energized from a convenient outlet connected to a suitable source of potential and the conveyor C operated at a speed to convey the material being discharged into the loading unit along the bottom of the several units of the train until the entire unit has been loaded to a desired depth of material, the side walls of the several units functioning to maintain the load intact. When the entire tram has been loaded to the desired extent, the motor M is de-energized and the tractor l@ attached to the opposite end of the tram so that the entire unit and its contents may be transported to a place for discharge. At the discharge point, the hopper portion 4@ of the discharge unit is spotted with respect to a receiving instrumentality such as a traveling belt conveyor or a loading chute to a bin, the discharge gate 4 1 then opened, and the motor M is again energized to operate the conveyor to move the entire load within the tram gradually into the discharge hopper 4t? for passage through the discharge gate 4l. When the contents of the tram have been thus discharged, the tractor may, by attachment to either end of the tram, return the same to a convenient point for reloading.

It will be understood that the invention as described provides a combined mobile conveyor and tram composed of one or more standard car units connected in end to end relation and respectively attached at opposite ends to a loading unit and to a discharge unit, the units being connected Vfor articulated movement about spaced pivots which are disposed on horizontal and vertical axes, wherebyra unit may be readily transported through the intricate passage of a mine or tunnel and thus facilitate the transportation of mined material from a loading point within the mine to a remote discharge point either within or outside the mine. Furthermore,` the several units are provided with side walls to prevent spillage of the material during transport thereof, and the side walls are designed to permit free swiveling and free hinge movement of the several connected units.

It will be understood that I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention but those skilled in the art will realize that various changes may be made in the size and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, the limits of which are set forth more clearly in the appended claims.v

I claim:

1.An articulated mobile conveyor comprising a plurality of wheeled units connected in end to end relation, one of said units including a'bottom plate member including a central portion and opposite end portions, terminal pivot plate members bearing upon and connected respectively to saidV opposite end portions for pivotal movement with respect thereto about substantially vertical axes, pivot means connecting said terminal members to said end portions for pivotal movement, said terminal members each having a hinge formation at the end thereof opposite said pivot means and disposed for connection to a similar formation onv an adjoining unit for pivotal movement aboutv a substantially horizontal axis, a loading unit and an unloading unit each having a bottom plate member and a terminal pivot member connected thereto by vertically disposed pivot means, said terminal pivot plate member having a hinge formation at one end, means hingedly connecting a hinge formation of a loading unit to the hinge formation of one of said terminal pivot plate members, means hingedly connecting the hinge formation of the unloading unit-to the hinge formation of other of said terminal pivotiplate members, rotary members mounted for rotation on the loading and on the unloading unit, an endless conveyor trained about said rotary membersand having upper and lower runs, said upper rrun being disposed above and in operation moving upon the pivotally connected bottom and pivot plate members of said connected units, and means for driving one of the rotary members to actuate the conveyor member.

`2. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein said rotary members includeV sprocket wheels and said conveyor member includes a sprocket chain engaged with said sprocket wheels, said sprocket chain at longitudinally spaced points having the links thereof pivotally connected for relative rotational movement about axes substantially perpendicular to the path of movement of the chain.

3. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein the pivotally connected bottom plate member and the terminal pivot plate member are provided with overlapped intertting arcuate edge portions whereby to provide a substantially smooth supporting surface on which the conveyor flights ride. p

4. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein the wheeled units include fixed axle members carried thereby in longitudinally spaced relation to the respective vertical pivotal axes thereof, andremovable axle members passed through the hinge portions of adjoining units to serve as hinge pins therefor, and wheel members mounted on all of said axles.

5. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein the means pivotally connecting the hinge formations of adjacent units of the conveyor include an elongated hinge pin having end portions extending laterally beyond said hinge formations, and ground engaging wheel members mounted on the extending ends of said hinge pins.

6. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein plural units identical to said one unit are hingedly connected in end to end relation, for relative articulated movement about horizontal axes, and wherein the hinge formation of the terminal pivot plate member at one end of the so connected units is Vhingedly connected to the hinge formation of a loading unit, and wherein the hinge formation of the terminal pivot plate at the opposite end of the so connected units is hingedly connected to the hinge formation of a discharge unit.

7. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein stop;

means is provided and carried jointly by the pivotally i connected end portions of the bottom plate member and terminal pivot plate members for limiting the degree or extent of permissible relative pivotal movement therebetween. Y

8. The apparatus described in claim 7 wherein the stop means therein recited comprises a'pair of lugs carried by and depending from the under face of a terminal pivot plate on opposite sides of the pivotal axis thereof and disposed to contact respectively edge portions of an underlying end portion of a bottom plate member, which edge portions extend radially outwardly of the pivotal axis thereof.

9. An articulated conveyor comprising a plurality of conveyor sections pivotally connected in end to end relation' for movement about substantially horizontal axes, one of said conveyor sections including a generally centrally disposed transverse wheeled support on which said conveyor section is supported for rocking movement about a transverse axis, said one conveyor section having at each of two opposite ends a turntable bearing part, a turntable bearing part complemental to each said rst mentioned turntable bearing parts and respectively connected thereto and supported thereon for limited pivotal movement about vertical axes, said complemental turntable bearing parts each having at one end a hinge part, and a conveyor loading section hingedly connected to one of said hinge parts, and a conveyor discharge section hingedly connected to the other of said hinge parts,wheeled truckA means for supporting the ends of the conveyor sections at said connected hinge parts including removable elongated hinge pins hingedly connecting said sections and carrying ground engaging wheels, and an endless ilexible conveyor having upper and lower runs, the upper run i References Cited in the le of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain g Ian. 28, 1949 Germany Nov. 24, 1955 

1. AN ARTICULATED MOBILE CONVEYOR COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WHEELED UNITS CONNECTED IN END TO END RELATION, ONE OF SAID UNITS INCLUDING A BOTTOM PLATE MEMBER INCLUDING A CENTRAL PORTION AND OPPOSITE END PORTIONS, TERMINAL PIVOT PLATE MEMBERS BEARING UPON AND CONNECTED RESPECTIVELY TO SAID OPPOSITE END PORTIONS FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT WITH RESPECT THERETO ABOUT SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL AXES, PIVOT MEANS CONNECTING SAID TERMINAL MEMBERS TO SAID END PORTIONS FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT, SAID TERMINAL MEMBERS EACH HAVING A HINGE FORMATION AT THE END THEREOF OPPOSITE SAID PIVOT MEANS AND DISPOSED FOR CONNECTION TO A SIMILAR FORMATION ON AN ADJOINING UNIT FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS, A LOADING UNIT AND AN UNLOADING UNIT EACH HAVING A BOTTOM PLATE MEMBER AND A TERMINAL PIVOT MEMBER CONNECTED THERETO BY VERTICALLY DISPOSED PIVOT MEANS, SAID TERMINAL PIVOT 